StoreFront online order system open

Printing Services' StoreFront is open for business to UI customers. The online, self-service ordering system that has been implemented gradually over the past year has had its wrinkles ironed out, and it is ready to use.

Standard UI business cards are available to everyone eligible to use the system. Individuals enter their particular information on line, and because the system is integrated with the University’s Workflow and Hawk ID systems, most of the fields are automatically filled. StoreFront then merges the data with the appropriate template and simultaneously produces a press-ready proof that is in the correct collegiate style and meets the University's identity standards. When the client submits the order it is press ready and needs only to be routed by a Printing employee.

The payment options are Master File Key (MFK) or Preqs. Those who use an MFK may split charges proportionally between multiple MFK numbers, but must send the request through the University’s workflow approval process. Preqs are accepted if they are preapproved. The user uploads the Preq through the payment gateway, re-enters the information, and submits the order.

There are two stages for access to the system. The first is determining eligibility. Most UI faculty and staff could be considered eligible. At this stage the user sees the default catalog, which currently contains only business cards. The second stage is to customize a catalog for a particular department. For example, if your department prints items regularly—brochures, postcards, or patient letters, for example—templates can be developed and placed in your department's catalog.

Bongo... rolling along

Bongo—a GPS-based, real-time passenger information system, was implemented during Fall semester by the Cambus, Coralville Transit, and Iowa City Transit systems. It allows riders to find current locations and arrival times for buses in all three systems with a cell phone, computer, or telephone. It also provides alerts and messages on specific routes to users.

New signage that provides the information needed to interact with the system at every bus stop has been installed. A QR code (a two-dimensional bar code) has been included on the signage. Users who have installed a particular application on their smartphone or mobile phone with a camera will be able to scan the code and retrieve the information without manually entering route numbers.

The GPS information is available on the web. The website shows samples of the new signs; route lists; and maps, arrival times, and digital signage in real time. It updates every ten seconds.

Use mailpieces with old barcode before spring

The U.S. Postal Service is phasing in a new, “intelligent mail barcode” which will be required for all business reply mail beginning May 2011. Mailing Services is replacing old bar codes with the new one as orders come in. Be sure to use all mailpieces that have the old barcode well before next May; after that, any mail with an old bar code may not be processed. More information is available in the Spring 2010 issue of Into Print newsletter.

Laundry expands rental selection

The UI Laundry Service has expanded its rental business to include lab coats with pink embroidery, purple polo shirts with green collars, extra-plush deep burgundy towels. Well. . . not really. We already offer these types of individualized products to our customers, if they want them. The Laundry Service rental program prides itself on customer service and customized product selection.

Recently Laundry supervisor Michael Mortland worked with Joan Dolezal of the UIHC Food and Nutrition department to set up a rental program for hospitality linens. Products included are catering tablecloths, napkins, bar-style towels, and hot pads. They were purchased by the Laundry to the specifications needed for Food and Nutrition catering purposes.

Image is an important part of the catering business, and the products Mortland helped Dolezal select offered two important advantages. For instance, one-hundred percent polyester tablecloths were purchased. They look and feel like fine cotton, but the fiber has a longer life—cotton fiber washes away every time it is laundered and polyester does not. You can see this washing away of the fiber if you’ve ever looked at a clothes dryer lint screen. Using polyester tablecloths and napkins means the product does not become thin and worn looking. In addition, polyester releases stains more readily than does cotton. Thus you have a product that lasts longer and looks cleaner.

Presenting a good image is essential for hospitality linens, but so is cost containment. Laundry Service can help fulfill both of these needs. Our rental system makes low startup costs a reality, and our experienced staff knows which products will perform to your specifications.

Cambus adds Lodge to Studio Arts route

Due to a surge in Fall enrollment, University Housing has leased apartments from The Lodge for the 2010-2011 academic year. Cambus agreed to service the area by modifying its Studio Arts bus routes. In keeping with Cambus’s free-ride policy, no fare or pass is required to board the bus.

The Cambus stop at the Lodge is on Highway 1 by Hawk Ridge Drive. On weekdays, fifteen-minute service is provided between 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and thirty-minute service from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. During weekends, thirty-minute service is available from noon to midnight. For more schedule information go to www.uiowa.edu/~cambus.

Surplus Saturday sales draw crowds

Reopening day at Surplus: This game-used football helmet fits just fine on Hawkeye hopeful Ryan Sears, of Solon, above left. Center, Oliver Aldrich delivers a shoe to dad Ben, who works in the UI department of Anesthesiology. At right, it took one busy customer less than ten minutes to fill his cart with electronics.

Saturday sales are quite an event at University Surplus. “We see from seven-hundred to a thousand transactions on any given Saturday,” says Surplus manager Steve Stange. “And we haven’t done a bit of advertising—it’s all word-of-mouth.” Starting around 6 a.m., shoppers begin to form a line, hoping for the first shot at the University’s castoffs when the door opens at 9 a.m.

“Often there are a hundred people lined up presale,” says Business Services associate director Chris Kula. “It’s fun to see families, couples, students. They’re having a great time. It’s gone extremely well.”

“We’ve opened the door to a different clientele—85 percent are new customers,” says Stange. “We also have many international students and residents who buy things to send to their home countries. We used to have a lot of resellers and loyal weekly customers. Now it’s the average person walking in off the street.”

The switch from Thursday sales took place last July. “Things are going like we hoped they would,” says Stange. The next public sale is January 8. See the Surplus website, www.uiowa.edu/uisurplus, for a complete schedule.

Public metered parking in Lot 11 an option for CRWC users

In order to provide customer parking for the new Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC), Lot 11, the permit and metered lot southeast of the building, was transformed into a combined permit and public use lot. Parking gates, a cashiered booth, fee computers, ticket machines, card readers, and a perimeter chain-link fence were installed to complete the makeover

Gates were placed at the north, east, and west entrances to the lot. The south entrance along Prentiss Street was closed to reduce the risk to pedestrians from vehicles and to provide additional parking spaces in the lot. Permit holders may use all entrances and exits. However, everyone else can use the public entrance on Madison Street, across from CRWC.

The lot’s existing amenities were maintained and improved, including motorcycle parking and ADA parking stalls, and the stairs on the northeast side of the lot were replaced.

This lot will also feature the first electric vehicle charging stations in a UI parking lot. The Parking and Transportation Department will experiment with four charging stations for Lot 11 permit holders using an electric vehicle. To use one of the stations, permit holders will need to display in their vehicle a special permit which identifies them as being preapproved to use them.

Lot 11 will also join other cashiered facilities by implementing a graduated rate schedule for patrons entering the lot between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. The graduated rate is intended to encourage short-term parking in the lot so more people can utilize it throughout the day.

How's your address hygiene?

The Postal Service requires that all presorted or automated mailings use address lists that are updated through an approved address cleansing method in order to receive postage discounts. It also requires that mailers show proof that their lists have been updated within ninety-five days before mailing.

Bulk mail: If you apply labels to a mailing, place it in zip-code order, and submit it without first processing the list through an approved software, you will not be eligible for a presort or automated discount. The mailing charge will be the single-piece, First-Class rate.

If you maintain your address database, print labels, and sort into zip-code order for bulk mailing, you must have your address list cleansed by a USPS-approved process such as National Change of Address (NCOA), NCOA Link, or FastForward. They can be costly and time consuming, however, and must be regularly maintained with updates and changes.

UI Mailing Services can process these mailings for you. The fees are substantially less than full first-class postage rates, which you will be charged if the address files are not Post-Office approved.

Meet Terrell Hunter

Terrell Hunter, a systems administrator and programmer for Business Services, wears many hats. On a given day he might train staff, purchase hardware, manage software licensing, update eforms, or communicate with Information Technology Services about one of their services, such as email.

“And I actually do IT work—install and upgrade software, troubleshoot server and database problems. I’m currently working on a migration for Fleet Services,” Terrell says.

His job also includes training other staff. “Staff development is important in our IT department,” he says. “It’s twofold: keep myelf and our other staff on a steady path of growth and improvement, and train department staff on software.”

There are “lots of projects around here. The list is organic, constantly evolving—I may plan something, but the next day the priorities can change, or the budget,” he says.

“I like the challenge of my job. When things work, it’s usually not simple. Things need to be aligned between the University, the person, and the software. Coming to that alignment is what’s challenging.” He adds, “Like most people, I like the feeling of being needed. I thrive on that and I’m driven by that.”

Terrell’s family includes his wife, Debbie, who works on the lung transplant team at UIHC, four adult daughters, and two grandchildren. He is working on an MBA, through a UI program for professionals and managers that is designed for people who work full time.
His strong interest in sustainability led him to install a geothermal system in his home, an old farmhouse, and achieve a heating and cooling bill of around $50 per month.

“I look at what can I do, what’s feasible. The legislation and technology are constantly changing, and that impacts whether people can get involved on a personal level,” he says. “Affordability is important. I’d like to see legislative incentives and technology that allow people to use sustainable energy in their homes.” He also monitors the electrical use in his home with a device at each circuit breaker.

Terrell and Debbie live in rural Washington county. “I enjoy the beauty and tranquility,” he says. When the weather is good, he likes to spend fall afternoons in his combined garage-shop, studying and watching Hawkeye football. He likes other sports, too, especially racing. “It’s a tough balance, between family, home life, work life, school,” says Terrell. Country life, he says helps maintain it.

Thanks for response to Printing & Mailing survey

Thanks to everyone who responded to the Printing and Mailing Services survey. We emailed 4,660 requests and received 590 responses, 13 percent. Of those, 519, 89 percent, have used Printing and Mailing Services. The overall response was encouraging, showing high levels of satisfaction.

More than 95 percent of customers who used the various services (Printing Services, Copy Centers, Digital Imaging Group, and Mailing Services) responded that they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with each of the following: ease of placing an order, ease of reaching a customer service representative, and quality of the finished order.

From 91 to 97 percent of customers responded that their jobs were handled professionally always or nearly always, their satisfaction was important to our staff, communication was effective, information about their order was readily available, and the turnaround time was satisfactory. In response to a question about costs, 82 to 89 percent of customers felt that charges for their orders were reasonable.

Many respondents made comments, which we appreciate. Several of the comments focused on costs—that they are too high, have gone up, and are not competitive. We will be reviewing this and hope to make improvements that customers will see in the coming months.

Other requests were for proofs by email; changes in our billing process; notification when our departments make changes; education about ordering; better gradients and color calibration on copies; more colored bond paper; mail forwarding cards; an easy way to reach staff; Campus Mail schedule changes; and more outreach.

We were gratified to receive much positive feedback among the comments: exceptional service.... excellent job.... timely and professional.... always a wonderful resource.... easy to work with.... very accommodating....